What most people don't realize is that the Civil War was not about slavery, it was about State's rights.The fact that people in these same States wanted to hold on to their God given right to continue using human beings as slaves is beside the point.

You can tell just how retarded some mongoloid is and how ignorant of history they are when they start a sentence off to the effect of,"The Civil War was not about slavery... Blah blah blah. Yada yada, ya... State's rights..."Moronic.

Only the Yankees believe it was about slavery. They don't want to admit that they are responsible for the federal mafia that they created by denying states rights to the citizens. I would try to blame it on something else, too, if I were them.

Really? Because my family has been ranching the same piece of Texas since 1834, which is probably before your immigrant family even got to this country, and we're no yankees but think it was abpout slavery.

If you want a different -- maybe more factual -- take on slavery and the Civil War, read this article in the New York Times. (Yes, I understand the irony in my citing the Times.) A lot of what we think we know may not be 100% true.

2:52My family has been in Texas for over 6 generations and we came to America in mid 1600's. Don't presume to think you are the authority on Texans just because you have been here a while. A lot of others have been here as long or longer. And I was always taught that it was about state's rights. Just becaue the right to have slavery or not was the issue in question, does not mean that the war was over slavery. It was over whether or not the state had a right to allow or outlaw slavery, as well as many other issues. The Civil War is what created this monster of a Federal government that we have today. When will it ever stop growing?

The people in tthe northern textile mills were not treated as good as the slaves of the South.As much as a slave was worth it was'nt like the movies make it.We just knew who the childrens fathers were then.

it was about slavery. It was about the southern state's rights to own slaves. Call it state's rights, or call it slavery, it was the same. Want something ironic? The southren staes were democratic, the ablolitionists were republcans. Read TEAM OF RIVALS by Doris Kearns Goodwin for a good hisory of the war.Uncle Wally

9:48 am, are you serious????I volunteer to enter data in the Ancestry World Archive Project. Not too long ago, there was a project involving the WPA Slave Narratives. I entered data culled from the narratives. The information was fascinating, so I ended up reading every story after entering the needed data.

The majority of the slaves were treated like animals. I only read a few where the slaves were not beaten, they were given food, and had the luxury of sleeping on straw beds. They ate squirrel or other small wildlife to try and survive. They were intentionally not fed much so that they were worn out after working. It decreased the possibilities of escape.

In ALL cases, families were torn apart. The slave owners would trade and sell the people as if they were cattle.

These narratives were not movies, but REAL accounts. Do some research and enlighten yourself.

I was born and raised and my family goes back several generations in Wise County. Prior to that I believe my ancestors came from Tennessee. I have read a fair amount about the Civil War and am proud of my ancestors for standing up for what they believed in against long odds. That said the Civil War was about slavery. As another poster said call it what you want the root cause was slavery. The North and South developed very different economies based in large part on slavery. These different economies led to different political interest including tarriffs. The North was (big generalizations here) mostly pro-tarriff to protect manufacturing from cheap imports and the South was anti-tarriff as it exported cotton and its economy was based on these exports. If the United States put a tarriff on British manufactured goods the British put a tarriff on U.S. exports the primary one being cotton. The South was determined to hold onto the political power it had in the senate and which was only possible so long as the number of slave and free states was equal. Lincoln said he would not attack slavery where it already existed and did not believe he had the right to do so. Lincoln did say that he would not allow slavery to be extended to the new territories of the U.S. which would soon become states. If the South allowed this to happen it would lose the political power it had in the Senate. This was a threat to the Southern way of life. Call it a war over states rights, political power etc.. The war had many causes and no one thing caused the war but slavery was at the root of all things the primary cause.

Southern states wanted their rights, sure, but it was basically the right to own slaves that had them up in arms. And if you were black, it would be awfully hurtful to know that your local government looks fondly upon that time period and clings to that memory by flying that flag. Let's forget southern pride. Fly the Texas flag or US flag, there's plenty to be proud of with both of those. Do you feel a particular kinship with Alabama or Mississippi or something? You're proud to be from the South? What does that even mean anymore?

you people make me sick alot no most of the people that fought in the war on the souths side didnt even own slaves. most people who owned slaves were wealthy. Besides who was it that sold them into slavery? Their own people!

Abraham Lincoln: "I am not now, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social or political equality of the white and black races. I am not now nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor of intermarriages with white people. There is a physical difference between the white and the black races which will forever forbid the two races living together on social or political equality. There must be a position of superior and inferior, and I am in favor of assigning the superior position to the white man."Source: Abraham Lincoln said this in a speech he delivered to the people of Charleston, Illinois in 1858.